Rate My Professor Paul Jackson

Dr. Paul Jackson is the Director of the School of Agricultural Sciences and Forestry within the College of Applied and Natural Sciences at Louisiana Tech University, a position he assumed in 2025. With over 12 years as faculty at the university, he serves as Professor of Plant Science. Jackson obtained his Bachelor of Science in Biology from Northwestern State University, Master of Science in Environmental Biology from Louisiana Tech University, and Ph.D. in Horticulture from Auburn University. He teaches plant science courses such as greenhouse management, pest management, landscape plants, and landscape design and contracting, contributing to the agricultural sciences curriculum.

Jackson's research specialization centers on tree seedling nursery management, with an emphasis on improving seedling quality and survival rates to ensure successful planting outcomes. He has secured external research funding and Board of Regents Enhancement Funding, enabling the acquisition of new equipment for the Lomax Hall greenhouses. Notable scholarly contributions include co-authorship of the article 'Testing the Reliability of Morphological Patterns to Identify Sonderegger Pine in Forest Tree Seedling Nurseries' published in 2025, which analyzed morphological traits like stem length, hypocotyl length, and root collar diameter in hybrid pine seedlings. He advised the master's thesis 'An Evaluation of Sonderegger Pine Morphology' completed in 2024 by Kelsey Denise Shoemaker, evaluating growth metrics in five-year-old trees and one-year-old container-grown seedlings of the longleaf-loblolly pine hybrid. Additional publications cover evaluations of methyl bromide alternatives on loblolly pine seedlings and longleaf pine hybridization dynamics. Jackson has earned multiple college-level awards recognizing his outstanding teaching and service activities. He presented a public seminar on the Space Shuttle Columbia catastrophe, sharing insights from his involvement with the recovery team, and engages in outreach with organizations including the Boys and Girls Club, North Central Louisiana Master Gardeners, Ruston Farmers Market, and area schools.